


Potential Energy

by paradiamond



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Newtina endgame, Percival POV, Plot: Percival falls in love with Tina and gets ahead of himself, dubcon, in the sense that he was her boss and that’s generally uncool, mention of a very bad auror case involving trafficking and magical horror, runs from pre-move to post-movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-25 13:25:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradiamond/pseuds/paradiamond
Summary: Percival has a brief affair with the new Auror, Tina. Years later, he still can’t forget, not even when Scamander comes into her life. The space between them is too charged, the potential too great, for it to just end.





	1. Before

“Finally, there's a new Auror starting today if you’d like to see her, a transfer from Boston.”

Percival nodded down at the report his assistant Sasha had handed him, outlining his schedule for the day. The new Auror in question sat as a footnote at the bottom of the page, included only because Sasha knew Percival’s preferences to hear absolutely everything concerning the Auror department. _Porpentina Goldstein._

“How new is she?”

“The transfer came with the promotion from trainee, sir.” 

Percival looked up, eyebrows raised. “Then yes, set up a meeting.” 

“Sir.” Sasha nodded, ever serious, and turned to leave. 

“Actually, don't,” Percival said, drumming his fingers on the desk. “I think I'd rather surprise her.”

The slight quirk of Sasha’s lips was the only indication of his amusement. “Of course.” 

Percival waved his dismissal and went back down at his work. They had a black magic ring to deal with, though it didn't appear to be overly serious. Still, it wouldn't do to get complacent. He devoted himself to the case fully before he set about satisfying his personal curiosities, reading the relevant files and determining the best of his people suited for the various tasks. All in all, it took a few hours and still left him with plenty of time to assign two random sweeps to root out their next problem before it could fester. 

Satisfied, he headed out of his office, making for the lower levels. 

“Mr. Graves.”

Percival turned at the unfamiliar voice and saw the woman he was just looking for, wide eyed and soft, standing in his shadow with a file clutched in her hand. She was pretty in a generic way, with dark hair and dark eyes, though that had been clear enough in her file. The real questions still remained. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she blushed. 

“My name is-”

“I know who you are,” Percival said, stopping her in her tracks. “And you know who I am, apparently.” 

To her credit, she straightened her spine and didn't look away, “Yes, sir. I just wanted to properly introduce myself.” She stuck her hand out, her nerves only a little belied by the color in her cheeks. 

For a moment, Percival considered not taking it. But self-amusement can only go so far when it risked compromising the professionalism in his department, so he reached back, taking her hand in his. If he squeezed a little tighter than was strictly necessary to see how she’d respond, that was his own private concern. In any case, he didn't smile. 

Miss Goldstein did, either out of nervousness or a genuine tendency towards fostering camaraderie. 

“I look forward to working with you,” she said, in what she probably intended to be a professional demeanor, but couldn’t quite control the way her gaze darted down the length of his body, assessing, interested. 

“Likewise.” Percival nodded, politely. That sort of attention was familiar, and in large part intentionally cultivated by the way he dressed and held himself, but it was no longer terribly exciting. Goldstein was one of many, and as a general rule Percival did not mix business and pleasure.

Goldstein smiled, just a quirk of the lips that he suspected is more genuine than contrived, and Percival turned away, bored already. A pretty face, likely dead before her time as tended to be the fate of all Aurors. As he turned the corner he was already mentally calculating how long it would take for the job to break her. Under a year, he suspected. 

***

Tina lasted out the year and more. 

Percival had kept an eye out for her the same why he did for them all, surreptitiously and with a healthy dose of constructive criticism when they caught him at it. She clearly had it a habit to pay attention, noticing more than the others, but she also called attention to it more than she should. Discretion was her main fault, both professionally and personally. 

Her merits, on the other hand, ranged from a sense of organization and deeply held loyalty to the law, to the darkness of her eyes, beautiful and intense. When Tina looked at him, which was often, Percival felt the benefit of her attention. 

When he watched her, Tina looked at him right back, clear interest in her gaze. Percival knew he was attractive, having been the recipient of such attention since he filled out to match his height as a teenager, and she must have known how she looked as well. Tina had the elegance of true beauty matched with the surprising power of her personality. No doubt she had been popular in school, not like the Quidditch stars and beauty queens, but the big fish in the small ponds. The others would have wanted to touch her as she went by, on her way to better things. The MACUSA must have been a wake up call for her on that score. Percival was used to the best. 

“Sir?” Tina called for him, leaning halfway into his office with a paper in her hand. She wasn’t a junior anymore, but he still occasionally had even the highest ranking Auror assigned to tasks technically beneath them, the better to keep up their skills and tamp down their egos. “This needs your signature.” 

He beckoned her in, not looking up from his desk. “What is it?” 

“The mission report from the West Village Raid.” 

“Is it accurate?” 

“Yes,” she answered, with perfect confidence, and didn’t so much as waver when he finally looked up. She was on track for a promotion, and she knew it. Percival had put her there. 

Percival nodded and reached for it, giving her a once over. She was dressed professionally, not the way that some of his subordinates did to try to attract him, though Tina hadn’t exactly made a secret of her feelings. Before, she had clearly been interested in him, but what set her apart from others almost right away was how she looked like she wanted to _be_ him as much as she just wanted him. There was an underlying respect there that made him want to respect her in return. So he kept her at arm's length, but not totally out of reach. 

“Very well.” He signed off on it, aware of her eyes on him, the intensity of her gaze verging on the inappropriate. But she never crossed the line, only danced around it. He handed it back to her and then watched her go, all business but for the way she glanced back at him. Ridiculous. 

Percival sighed and closed his door with a wave of his hand. He shouldn't think of her at all. But Tina had appeared in one of his divination projects, standing by his side. As a co-worker? It hadn’t seemed so. He had never been one to put too much stock in those arts, some of the weaker in his field, too easily mismanaged, but it made him wonder. Normally, he would never even consider a coworker, a subordinate especially, as a romantic or sexual prospect. But things happened. He knew that better than most. 

The rest of the day passed much like any other, until it abruptly didn’t. Percival was home and settling down for the evening when there was a knock on the door. A chill ran up his spine. He turned and stared at the hall, suspicious. Whoever it was, the wards had admitted them. This late, it likely meant work business. 

Percival stood and moved quietly, his instincts still on high alert. The spy hole in the door spun when he approached, opening up to reveal Tina Goldstein standing on his front steps with a clutch of papers. The ring around the device was green, indicating truth. Percival shook his head, amused in spite of himself, and opened the door.

“Miss Goldstein, to what do I owe the pleasure?” 

She turned from where she’d clearly been inspecting the house and smiled up at him. “Mr. Graves. I have the delivery report you asked for.” 

Percival nodded, noticing that she didn’t hold it out for him to take. It was not terribly unusual that he had something brought to him, but it was strange that it would be her. Strange enough to indicate to him that she probably volunteered, either to be nice or to have to chance to see him outside of work. Possibly both. 

He took a step back, deciding to match her move for move. It was not a smart idea necessarily, but he couldn’t help but feel curious. “Thank you. Would you like to come in?”

Tina smiled, no doubt aware of the situation. She had engineered it, after all. “That’s very kind.” She stepped forward, into his world. 

***

Of course, they had sex. 

It was good, almost too good. At first, they were simply wild, knocking things over in his house and ruining each other. Percival gave himself over to the feeling, accepting his mistake as he made it in exchange for the feeling of Tina’s skin under his hand, her tongue in his mouth. 

They made it upstairs and he finally had her on the bed, spread out and open for him. They rolled once, maybe twice, and ended up facing the wrong way, her feet just brushing his pillows. There was too much build up for them to go about this cleanly, and he felt mad with it, possessed with the feeling of being inside her. 

She was all over, her breasts pressed to his chest, her hands in his hair. She pulled, intentionally or not he didn’t know, but it only made him wilder. Tina had her legs locked around his waist in a vice grip, rolling and meeting him thrust for thrust. They were too close, mouths pressed together, breathing the same air without really kissing, just panting as they writhed together, and he was far, far too close to finishing already. 

He leaned away, creating some space between them by reaching back and pulling her legs down. Tina whined and reached for him, just as far gone as he was, lost in sensation, so he caught her hand next and pinned it next to her head, leveraging himself up onto his palms so he could fuck her properly, without so many distractions. 

Tina’s eyes lit up, she had always been bright, and wiggled her hips, a move that would have seemed almost childish if he hadn’t felt it roll from his cock to the base of his spine. Percival shuddered and shifted himself to get better leverage. Then he fucked her, well. The best feeling in the world was the feeling of a women coming on his cock, and he told her so, made her moans and whine. 

Tina had her eyes closed, privately chasing her own pleasure, lost in her own world. He didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult, so he let the issue go entirely and let his own eyes close, bending close to her once again as he picked up the pace, sprinting to the finish line. 

Then as fast as they’d started, they were done, and there was nothing else to do but to go to sleep. Neither of them had ever been one to run away, to sneak out in the night, but then they both woke up in the middle of the night and take each other slow, Percival braced on his elbows over her, bracketing her in as she panted and writhed. 

That was the one that scared him more, that hit a little too close when she whined in his ear and clutched at his shoulders.

When it was done, they rolled away again and both pretend to be asleep. 

Eventually, Tina sat up, her hair going in twelve different directions. “Should I just go?”

Percival laughed, he couldn’t help it. “No, you can stay.”

***

In the morning, they had what might just have been the most awkward breakfast of all time. There was a distinct mark on her neck that she hadn't removed, and he kept looking at it, unable to stop himself. 

Tina eyed him over his ugliest coffee mug. “That was the last time.” 

“Of course,” he agreed mildly, fully expecting them both to be made into liars soon enough. It was too good, too matched, for them not to do it again. He could see himself rucking up her skirt in his office, desperate and rushing so as not to be caught, the risk almost as thrilling as the sex. He could imagine standing in an alley, waiting to meet up with her, telling himself to leave and knowing that he wouldn't. Or Tina showing up at his house late at night, and slipping away before the sun came up. 

These things never ended easily. He knew because he played this game before, back when he was the young man and she was the older woman. The break could be confusing, but it wasn’t terrible. It was certainly educating. He smiled to himself as they ate politely, imagining the things he could teach Tina, all the things that had been taught to him. She had been no virgin, but there was still so much to share, and Tina was worth sharing with, of that much he was sure. 

They parted as colleagues, a ridiculous pantomime that involved a handshake of all things, and walk to work on different streets. 

At work, Percival paid her no mind, certain of the inevitability of it all. And it did seem to be going in that direction. They shared glances that have him growing partially hard in the elevator. She could barely look him in the eye some days, her cheeks turning pink in an instant. On other days he caught her openly staring, and she didn’t look away. 

It didn't help that he knew exactly what she felt like when she got excited, and the idea that he could do it again kept him up at night. The anticipation built, begging to crest. There was no way it could just end. 

Things came to a head, as they always did, when they ended up on an assignment together. It was a simple job, but undercover, something that required them to stay together overnight. When the memo crossed his desk he almost rolled his eyes at the complete lack of irony or subtly in the universe. There was nothing new under the sun. But Percival walked to the apparition spot with his head high, knowing that this was it. 

They danced around each other for days, building the game, until something finally broke. The tension in their shared hotel room was a physical presence nipping at their heels. Suddenly they were very close, his fingers resting under her breast, his mouth on her neck. 

But then Tina turned him away. “We said the last time, remember?”

Percival blinked, his hand caught only on air now. “Of course.” 

Tina smiled at him, a small ridiculous things that spoke of integrity and a drive to stay true to herself if not to the rules. Percival turned away and got into the shower, expecting to feel irritated, but he didn’t. His respect for her only grew, the wave finally cresting and falling, somehow a surprise every time. 

***

Rather than regret the loss what would have been a very gratifying but brief affair, he threw himself into her success, seeing her as his potential equal for the first time. 

True to form, Tina accepted every challenge, took every chance to develop her skills with Percival standing at her back, watching, evaluating. She did well, so much so that Percival couldn’t help but wonder where she would be in five years, or ten. That was, until she ruined it. 

It was unbelievably exasperating to watch someone with so much promise throw it all away over a pity project, but that was precisely what she did. Percival helped where he could, but didn’t get too involved. In the back of his mind, he wondered what might have happened, what still could happen between them if she rose to his level at MACUSA, but he didn’t dwell on it. 

Then, of course, he was kidnapped. 

That time was a blur. He believed, no, he knew it would have been so much worse without his training. He didn't get to be head of the department without going through intense capture and survival training, and he knew it showed despite how terrible he felt afterward, lost and alone. Damaged. 

It was all about the mind. Percival lived inside himself for weeks, surfacing only when the rescue team came, as he always knew they would. 

Helpfully, Tina was part of the team that found him, a touchstone to reality. She was a constant facet of his recovery, clearly feeling guilty for not realizing he’d been switched. Recovery is a process, he knew that, has said it to his fellow Aurors in the past, but that didn't mean he had to like it. 

Tina never flinched, not when he lashed out, not when he cried and sent her away. She was tired looking, and sad, but as strong as ever. Percival was enduringly grateful to her, and told her so. 

“Thank you, Mr. Graves.” 

He sighed, picking at hospital food. “Is it Mr. Graves now?” 

Tina’s smile was shot through with pain for the boy who died and her sister and a man called Newt, of all things. So much had happened while he was away. But she also kept pain for Percival. He could see it. 

He was in pain too, and he reached for her. She let him, following his hands as they pulled her close, sealing his mouth over hers. They almost had sex right then, a pure release, though he noticed that she couldn’t quite look him in the eye. So self sacrificing, again. 

He pushed her away, shame rising in his chest. “I apologize.” 

She reached out, her kind hand finding the side of his face. He leaned into her, unable to stop himself. “It’s alright,” she said, and a million other kind things, and even a few helpful things, and then asked him what he needed. 

It made him smile for the first time since they'd found him. “Always so pragmatic.” 

He couldn’t ask, but she could see. Tina hoisted herself onto the bed spent the night with him, just sleeping, just holding him. They didn’t do it again, but afterward he was so grateful to her sometimes that it hurt. 

After he was released they try to go back to normal, though Percival admitted to himself that he felt profoundly differently about her. It was a puzzle box, both beautiful and frustrating. But he was always very good at passing tests. 

What he didn’t want to do was to try and jump back into whatever they had, especially not when they both needed so much time and healing. He knew better than to dive into a relationship with someone who mattered so soon after a trauma. 

One thing he knew for sure though, was that he didn't need to worry about time. They both needed to work on repairing their working relationship first, and then their friendship. Then the rest could come, whatever it would be. 

No matter what Tina said, seeing someone wearing his face try to kill her had an impact. It would take time, and Tina had her British distraction writing her letters and promising to bring her ridiculous books. Anything that came after that for them would come on its own or not at all. 

But damn if he didn’t dream about her sometimes. 


	2. After

“This is terrible,” Tina said, openly horrified now that she was behind the closed door of his office. She wouldn't show this much in front of the others, but Percival didn’t fault her for it, especially because she was right. 

“Disgusting,” he agreed, mildly flipping through the file. What should have been a simple case of magical creature smuggling had turned out to be something much more sinister after McGill found one of their hideouts. A simple spell to undo enchantments had revealed the creatures not to be creatures at all, but women forced into a creature’s shape for easier trafficking. Horrific. 

Percival had been handed the case right away, and subsequently requested Tina, the only person he really trusted, even after months and months of being back on the job.

“We only have a few weeks, days even, to find the rest of them,” Tina said, wringing her hands. “If the traffickers know we’re onto them they might abandon them and then they’ll be stuck.” 

Percival frowned, knowing she was right. Not stuck physically, of course, but left too long in the shape of an inferior creature, the human mind degraded. They could be dealing with permanent brain damage if they didn’t hurry. He set his file down and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Alright. Do we know any experts on this kind of thing?” 

Tina paused mid-step, her head cocked to the side. “Actually…” 

Which was how Percival was afforded the opportunity to finally meet Newton Scamander. The eccentric creature specialist, rule breaker, writer, and according to the rumor mill, Tina’s beau. Which made him Percival’s supposed rival. It would be amusing if it were a less dire situation. 

As it was, they spent very little time talking and more running and fighting. He wouldn’t even have known that the two of them had a relationship beyond the professional if Tina hadn’t told him so the last time Scamander was in the city to give her his book. Percival hadn’t met Scamander then, but he heard enough about him to know that Tina would be bored within the year. 

Whatever the relationship, Scamander was a godsend for spotting incorrect behavior in creatures, and they found the stronghold of the traffickers within days. Unfortunately, the criminals correctly guessed that the priority would be the victims, and got away by setting them loose and running, the creatures scattering throughout the warehouse and out and into the city. The only good thing about it was that, in their haste, they left all the records behind. 

Percival had his team pouring over the scene within the warehouse, identifying the women in question, and more importantly, the number. From there it was just a question of finding them, which was once again greatly expedited by Scamander’s presence. Working round the clock, they found all but two within the first twenty four hours, but it was critical time. 

The two they recovered under the east bridge another three days later were beyond help. 

Tina had to excuse herself after two minutes when they were changed back, the sight of the young women skittering around on the floor and chattering to each other too horrible for her to bear. Percival didn’t blame her. 

The feeling in that room was indescribable. Bile crawled up his throat when one of them bit the other, her mind completely lost. Scamander bolted away to vomit, heaving into a trash can as the girls were sedated and taken to the hospital for tests that would surely come back inconclusive. They’d be kept as comfortable as possible, but that was as much as could be done for them with their current understanding of mind healing. 

Percival abruptly found himself alone in the room with Scamander, still shaking and clutching at the wall. In times like these, there was nothing. No words, no explanations. They just had to keep going. He pulled out his handkerchief and held it out, but Scamander stared at it like he’d never seen one before, his gaze miles away. “I-” 

“I know.” 

He shook his head. “I should have helped them.” 

“You saved all the others, all twenty eight of them. You quite likely saved those two from a life of sexual-”

“Don’t,” Scamander said, suddenly harsh, his face set in hard lines. “Don’t try to fix this.” 

Percival straightened his spine and did Scamander the courtesy of listening to him. “Very well. But blaming yourself for the actions of evil men won’t get you anywhere.” 

Scamander looked up, his eyes suddenly too astute. “I suppose you’d know.” 

“Yes,” Percival said, uncomfortable. “I would. Are you-”

The door opened with a bang, clattering against the wall, and Tina walked back in, face pale but steady. “I’m sorry I- Newt?” 

The sight of Tina and the sound of her kind voice proved too much for Scamander, and his face crumpled, his spine bent. Percival didn’t have the heart, or the right, to judge him for the way he folded into her when she put her arms around him. He’d done the same not so long ago, and Scamander wasn’t even trained in this sort of thing. All he could do now was take his leave, as discreetly as he could. As he eased the door closed, he caught Tina’s grateful glance over Scamander’s head. 

Percival went back to his office, grateful for the solitude and the bottle he kept in the bottom drawer for days like today. It was hard to think of the girls, just as hard as it had been to think of the other victims he’d dealt with in his life. Too many. He couldn’t even imagine their families, so he didn’t try. It was easier, better, to think of other things, so he thought about Tina and Scamander, and how this incident would bring them closer for awhile longer. Trauma always did. 

Of course they would break up eventually, no amount of shared experiences could replace innate compatibility, but they had now shared two highly traumatic events. Yet again they had been thrown together by circumstances and a high adrenaline experience. Percival swirled his glass, leaning back in his chair. He had be allowed to review Tina’s memories submitted as evidence against Grindelwald, the ones of her in the interrogation room and then the execution chamber. He knew what happened sometimes when people almost died together. But those bonds faded with time. But they didn’t seem any closer to breaking up, not yet. 

Still, selfishly, Percival couldn’t help but wonder when. He wouldn’t say that he’d been waiting for her, of course he’d had dates with other women over the past year, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have Tina with him now. To have her here to deal with the tragedy of those poor girls instead of in the infirmary with a shaking naturalist. 

Percival frowned at himself. Without Scamander they might not have found them at all, and he had none of their training. It didn’t do to be unfair or willfully ignorant, that was what his grandmother used to say before she’d hit him on the knuckles with her wand. Percival didn’t intend to be. 

He saw them together again before he left, sitting in the lobby. Both of them had clearly been crying, but they were dry eyed when he passed. Scamander was stroking Tina’s hand with his thumb, and she had her head on his shoulder. Percival gave them their time, going out the side door instead. 

It was sweet, which wouldn’t be enough for Tina forever. He remembered what it was like. Tina wrestling with him for control, starting out on top but clearing thrilling when he held her down. Scamander seemed like he could barely kiss her without blushing. 

Of course, Percival could see some of the appeal, his sweetness, his consideration, but he didn’t have enough. He was almost exactly as Tina described him. Nice, a little awkward, but with a genuine nature that drew people to him. There was nothing wrong with him, except for his ethical flexibility when it came to the law, and Percival even sort of liked him. He had a spark of action missing from most people. Tina had it too, which was probably how they connected in the first place. 

But Percival was sure that it was only a shallow connection, one that would fade in time just as the pain of this awful case would move into the background of their lives, an unpleasant moment in the span of an entire life. 

***

The aftermath of the trafficking case was unpleasant, but bearable. A new standard for cruelty, an exploitative sensation in the papers. Predictable. Then, after the case was completely finished and the victims have been made as comfortable as possible, Percival pulled a piece of paper from his submission box and stared, his mind blank. 

_Resignation Notice: Porpentina Goldstein._

Percival leaned back in his chair, his hand curled under his chin. Then he jerked to his feet, making for the door and nearly knocking down his secretary on his way. She wasn’t at her desk, but she rarely was, preferring the field. She loved her job. His hand tightened on the paper. What was she thinking? He went back into his office and closed the door. 

It was so much worse than when she got demoted. He flipped over his chair, then fixed it, irritated at himself. His secretary did not come into the room again. 

Tina came back at the end of the day, pleased as anything, and froze when she caught sight of him. “Oh, were you-” 

“Office,” Percival said, down to single words for sentences. “Now.” 

She followed him in, eyebrows raised, and stayed standing behind the guest chair. It was too hot in the small space. Percival tugged at his tie, irritated and angry. “Tina,” he said, and it came out like a growl. Her eyebrows climbed even higher. 

“Tina,” he tried again, better this time. With a flick on his wand the paper slid in front of her, smooth again. “Why?”

She looked down at it. “Personal reasons.” 

“Well, as your professional mentor,” he bit out the words, “I have to let you know that I strongly object.” 

“I appreciate that, but-” 

“I just can’t believe that you would do this. Didn’t you learn anything from your last incident?” 

She glared. “Yes, I did. Quite a lot.” 

“You’re not really going to leave New York, the greatest city in the world, and your work, to go live in Britain.” He’d been filled in by the rumor mill well enough, and it galled. 

Tina blinked. “Well, except that I am, though.” 

“What about-” he gestured around at the office, at everything. “Everyone.” 

She stared. “I- you mean my sister? She moved to London last year with her husband.” 

Percival frowned, and Tina tilted her head, that too astute look in her eye. “Are you- do you mean you?” 

“Me?” he asked, and didn’t even believe himself. Tina’s face softened. 

“I know we’ve been through a lot-”

“Yes, speaking on a personal level as well and a professional one, we have, which is part of why I just don’t-”

“I know.” Tina held up her hands. “I know you don’t understand. This city it’s- it’s full of ghosts for me. This last case was too much.” 

Percival straightened his spine. “That’s not true, you’re stronger than you think.” 

“Maybe I don’t want to be,” she said, the open honesty on her face just on the edge of too much, as always. “Maybe I want to be something else.” 

“With someone else, you mean,” he shot back, and immediately regretted it when he saw her surprise. Dread flooded through him, and he raised his hands to pinch at the bridge of his nose. “I- that was inappropriate.” 

“I think we’re a little beyond that at this point,” she said, very quietly. “Can’t we talk as friends?” 

“Friends?” He let his hands drop. “I think you know that’s not how I feel about you.”

“No.” Her eyes were wide pools. “I didn’t.” 

It was the eyes that did him in, the same ones from their night so long ago now, deep in feeling. A common sort of look, as old as time, and perfected here. He reached for her as if in slow motion, feeling it happen outside of time. 

He kissed her, and she didn’t move or jerk away, but she didn’t kiss him back either. Putting up with it, letting him have something he needed, like that day in the hospital. Hadn’t he learned anything since then? 

All at once he saw himself as though through the door, as an outsider. A middle aged wizard who failed at his job so spectacularly once that he couldn’t help but keep doing it, and doing it at every level of his life. Throwing himself at his employee. He broke away, mortified, and she laid a hand on his face. “Percival…” 

He wished she would have slapped him instead. 

***

They then had to work together for two more weeks. 

It was awkward, painful. Percival found himself at a loss, but he pulled himself together enough to smile at her party and be a goddamn professional. Scamander was also there. He had been around more and more, clearly just waiting for her to be done so they could go start their little life, which was infuriating in and of itself. 

Tina flitted about the room, talking to people she barely tolerated and who didn’t know her name. It was gratingly normal. Percival stayed near the wall, and then later, out on the patio. She had obviously been avoiding him, for his sake, he was sure. It was extremely embarrassing. 

The worst part was when Scamander came and found him outside. 

“Mr. Graves, whatever you might think of me, you should know that I would never hurt her.”

Percival stared at him. For a moment he wanted to play the childish game and yell, demand that Newt was wrong, that Percival was the only one good enough for her, and if Newt was man enough to let him prove that, he would. But he wasn’t a child. 

He sighed. “I know that, Mr. Scamander. But Tina is exceptional. She deserves more than just good.” 

Scamander blanched, clearly embarrassed. Percival just stared back at him, caught between pride at striking the nerve and shame over everything else, his new normal. He watched Newt walk away, and find Tina, and talk to Tina, who looked blindingly angry. Understandable. Percival wasn’t overly fond of himself right now either. 

Percival stayed on the balcony and waited for her to come, to yell at him. He deserved it, and they probably needed to get some things out in the open, as painful as it sounded. He was waiting for it, just like he waited for them to break their promises and be together again all those years ago, and it never came. The party ended, which he only noticed because the music stopped, and he looked back to see that she’d already left. 

She was moving on, he realized, leaving everything, including him, behind. He wouldn’t stand for it. He couldn’t, no matter how it made him look. That didn’t matter. 

***

Scamander was the one who opened the door, which just made it worse. Having to stand there and ask the ridiculous man if he could see Tina was almost as bad as Scamander’s complete lack of concern that he was there. It was abundantly clear that he didn't see Percival as a threat, even going so far as to go back down into that suitcase instead of staying where he could watch and listen to their conversation. 

Tina brought him out to the balcony of her tiny apartment. They barely both fit on it. The silence stretched between them as they stared out at the building across the street. If she wanted, they could have the whole skyline. They could do anything if they worked together. 

“It’s a waste, Tina.”

She scoffed, turning around to lean against the railing, arms crossed. “A waste? I’m not a thing, I don’t have a purpose to perform.”

He shook his head. “Don’t twist my words, please. You know I mean that you’re meant for greater things.”

“And you want me to reach these things with you?”

He nodded. “I won’t deny that. You should be with an equal, not…” He trailed off, conscious that he could start them down the road to a fight with only a word. Which only proved his point. They were fire to fire, complimenting each other, helping each other build. Scamander was water. 

She gave him a long look. “I need you to trust that I can make my own choices.”

“I do, but-”

She held up a hand. “And, I am capable of fixing my own mistakes.”

He looked up, eyes flashing. “You admit that this is a mistake?”

To his chagrin, she smiled. “No, I don’t think it is, not at all. But it is a risk. And if I mess up, then I will fix it myself. Alright?”

He shook his head. 

She sighed. “Can you at least admit that this is about you? Not me?”

“It’s about both.” He took her hand. “We should be together.”

Tina squeezed his hand, and then pulled away. “I want you to promise me something.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Alright.”

Her lips twitched, and he wanted to kiss her. But he couldn’t, not now. The worst part was that he didn’t do anything wrong. There was no mistake he could look back on, no one fault in himself. What should he have done? Pursued a relationship with a junior Auror? Pressed her for sex when she told him she was done? Thrown them into a relationship neither of them were ready for after his release? Of course not. It was circumstance. It was Grindelwald, and monsters in the shapes of man, and the whole world, conspiring against them. 

Tina brushed his hair away from his face. “Don’t wait for me. I’m not making a mistake.”

Percival nodded, burning from the inside. “Fine. I’ll come to see you off at the boat then.”

She blinked at him. “You don’t have to-”

“I know. I’ll do so anyway.” 

For a long beat, she was quiet. Then she sighed. “Find your own way out?” 

“Of course.” 

***

In the end, he did come see her at the boat. It was awkward, but not as bad as he feared. Once, maybe, but recent events had given him new standards for difficulty. For pain. 

Watching it pull away, it was like seeing his whole life, another man’s life, stretched out before him. An ocean of possibilities, some would say. But Percival preferred certainty. 

He preferred her.

**Author's Note:**

> paradiamond.tumblr.com ~ for more of this kind of nonsense


End file.
